Casimir force in absorbing multilayers

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 2002 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.052103· OSTI ID:20632244

Tomas, M S ^[1]

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1. Rudjer Boskovic Institute, P.O. Box 180, 10002 Zagreb (Croatia)

The Casimir effect in a dispersive and absorbing multilayered system is considered adopting the (net) vacuum-field pressure point of view to the Casimir force. Using the properties of the macroscopic field operators appropriate for absorbing systems and a convenient compact form of the Green function for a multilayer, a straightforward and transparent derivation of the Casimir force in a lossless layer of an otherwise absorbing multilayer is presented. The resulting expression, in terms of the reflection coefficients of the surrounding stacks of layers, is of the same form as that obtained by Zhou and Spruch for a purely dispersive multilayer using the (surface) mode summation method [Phys. Rev. A 52, 297 (1995)]. Owing to the recursion relations that the generalized Fresnel coefficients satisfy, this result can be applied to more complex systems with planar symmetry. This is illustrated by calculating the Casimir force on a dielectric (metallic) slab in a planar cavity with realistic mirrors. Also, a relationship between the Casimir force and energy in two different layers is established.

• OSTI ID: 20632244
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 66; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CASIMIR EFFECT
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
FIELD OPERATORS
FRESNEL COEFFICIENT
GREEN FUNCTION
LAYERS
MIRRORS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
RECURSION RELATIONS
REFLECTION
SURFACES
SYMMETRY